Daniel Boone's Great Escape tells the dramatic
story of Boone’s capture by Shawnee Indians and his eventual escape. While
evading capture in a desperate run to freedom, Boone traveled 160 miles through
a primeval forest in just four days time. His heroic act gave the settlers at
Boonesboro time to prepare for the coming Shawnee attack. Illustrated by Ard
Hoyt. This book features the illustrations of Ard Hoyt, illustrator of One-Dog
Canoe and Some
Dog!

Snowflakes licked at Daniel Boone's face as he crept quietly alone through the
woods. He was hunting — the thing he most loved to do. He didn't know that on this
cold and snowy day his life would change foreger.

In February 1778, while the Revolutionary War raged back east, Daniel Boone led
a party of men to the Licking River in Kentucky to make salt. On the frontier,
salt was more valuable than gold because it was needed to preserve meat for the
winter. Today he was hunting for food to bring the salt makers.

"Daniel Boone's encounters with the Shawnee Indians in Kentucky are
chronicled in this illustrated read-aloud book... The story is perfect to
read aloud and lends itself to a great discussion. The illustrations are detailed,
and colorful pencil drawings show lots of action. Additionally, the illustrations
and story format are perfect for reluctant readers who are intimidated by
a long biography. There is a great deal of helpful background information
included in the epilogue. The book is a great addition to an elementary or
middle school collection. Besides its value as a biography, it is simply an
interesting story!"
~ Jennifer Harkleroad for Library Media Connection

"...a
thrilling adventure about famed 18th-century frontiersman Daniel
Boone. The
storytelling is immediate and swift: “Suddenly
the woods went still.... Boone looked behind him and saw a fearsome sight. Four
Shawnee warriors were riding through the trees toward him.” Gripping prose
relates Boone's experiences as the Shawnee hold him captive from February to
June in 1778, until he makes a daring escape to warn fellow settlers of an impending
attack. Hoyt's skillful blend of close-ups and eye-level perspectives pulls
readers right into the action."
~ Publishers Weekly

"Spradlin turns from Texas Rangers to another
frontiersman, Daniel Boone, in
this little-known adventure based on a brief statement in his autobiography...
As dramatic as the tale are
Hoyt’s expressively crosshatched line-and-watercolor illustrations, which
depict such extraordinary events as Boone’s running the Shawnee’s
gauntlet
without straying into the exaggeration of a tall tale. Ample evidence of why
Boone remains the stuff of legends."
~ Kirkus Reviews

"For young readers interested in history and
those who are drawn to adventure, this true story is a compelling
one."
~ School Library Journal

"the pictures ~ created with watercolor,
colored pencil, and ink, and with lots
of crosshatching ~ practically jump off the two-page spreads. No doubt kids
will be caught up in the adventure..."
~ Booklist

"For most young people, history is usually reduced
to a long list of boring dates --or worse, bad cartoons. Michael P. Spradlin's
thrilling tale of Daniel Boone isn't that kind of history. It is a remarkable
true story of a real person doing extraordinary things. And his exciting adventure
of the real Daniel Boone proves that the true story is always more intriguing
than the myths and legends we often create. It is a great
read --and great history!"
~ Kenneth C. Davis, New York Times Best-Selling Author of Don't Know Much
About History.

In most cases when an author writes a picture book, they have very little contact
with the illustrator. Some publishers actually prefer it this way, keeping the
two roles completely separate and not allowing the different mediums to influence
each other. In the case of my earlier picture books I’ve not had the pleasure
to meet Ronald Himler, who illustrated The
Legend of Blue Jacket or Roxie Munro
who did such a wonderful job with the art for Texas
Rangers: Legendary Lawmen.

In the case of Daniel Boone's Great Escape, I
was fortunate to not only meet illustrator Ard Hoyt, we have developed a very
close friendship. Ard and I first met five years ago at the Children’s
Literature Festival in Warrensburg, Missouri. It was the first time at the festival
for both of us, and being new and as I jokingly say, shunned by the other authors,
we naturally gravitated toward each other. One night, while sitting around and
shooting the breeze, we were talking about the influences on our work. Ard mentioned
that he idolized Stephen Kellogg as an artist and Kellogg’s work was the
reason he became an illustrator.

Ard Hoyt, illustrator of Daniel Boone's Great Escape.

My ears pricked up and I began to suspect that
I had found a potential artist for my story about Boone. I’d always seen
the story as a “Kellogg” type
of tale and I casually mentioned the story to Ard and was delighted to find that
he was a major history buff as well. I asked him, if I ever found a publisher
for Daniel Boone's Great Escape, would he be interested
in illustrating it? Ard replied with an enthusiastic yes.

But you have to understand something. Ard is one of the finest, nicest, most
talented and humble men you will ever meet. Emphasis on the nice. And at these
conferences where illustrators are outnumbered by artists 10 to 1, every author
has a picture book and is looking for an illustrator. Not knowing Ard as well
then as I do now, I suspected he was just being polite and really had no interest
in Boone, me or any of my projects.

So imagine my surprise when I returned
home after the festival and a couple of days later Ard emailed me a very early Boone drawing.
His email asked if this was what I was looking for. I was overjoyed.

A few months later I sold Daniel Boone's Great Escape to Walker & Company
and suggested Ard as the artist. They were as thrilled to work with Ard as I
was. Now the book is a reality but more importantly we have become fast friends.